21 Comments
User's avatar
JustSomeMustard's avatar

Heck yeah! Mustard loves City Pop. If you need any recommendations Mustard would love to share. :)

Expand full comment
Lamar Ramos's avatar

I would absolutely dig that! I'm taking my time and learning each artist and collecting a list of Vinyls I will grab when I am in japan!

Expand full comment
JustSomeMustard's avatar

Mustard's favorite City Pop artist is Anri. They highly recommend Timely!!! (which they also have on vinyl.)

Off the top of their cap they recommend:

Timely!!! by Anri

Mignonne by Takeo Onuki

midnight cruisin' by Kingo Hamada

for you by TATSURO YAMASHITA

Expand full comment
Lamar Ramos's avatar

NOTED. Im all up on Taeko Onuki, and Tatsura is such hard finds

Expand full comment
JustSomeMustard's avatar

Mustard is manifesting you some great finds while in Japan.

This condiment loves Japan and has been trying to teach themselves Japanese for the longest time. Not sure how long you will be there but if New Japan Professional Wrestling has a show - highly recommend checking it out. NJPW is Mustard's favorite promotion and could gush about it all day haha.

Expand full comment
Lamar Ramos's avatar

Thank you for the energy I shall find them rare Yamashita vinyls digging at vintage and record shops there.

I love NJPW, I havent watched in a while but always wanted to exp wrestle kingdom! So Ima have to see if there's an event happening close by when I'm there. Even stardom.

Expand full comment
The Pro Wrestling Exuberant's avatar

I like the new format a lot for your substack. You've piqued by interest in City Pop enough to want to get something off your recommendation list. What's a good one to start off with, and do they carry these in "mainstream" music sellers or best to purchase online? If seeking out live wrestling in Japan, I'll throw in a recommendation to Pro Wrestling Noah. That promotion has really grown on me since I started watching it a few years ago, with some very physical, high quality in-ring stuff and strong shows from opener to main event on a consistent basis, from my viewing experience.

Expand full comment
Lamar Ramos's avatar

Glad you dig it! Trying something out to include most of my interest.

For city pop I am a newbie as well so I would say if you want to scope my playlist I included on this. I’m updating it with the very best of what I hear as I take my time exploring artists. A lot of their music actually isnt on streaming because Japan still make plenty of money from record/cd sales which I respect.

Gna also take a peek at that promition!

Expand full comment
Kathy Enriquez-Nguyen's avatar

Fuck yah City pop!!!

Love this concept too. Super fun and lets readers know more about the real you.

Did you finish Ghost of Tsushima already?

Expand full comment
Lamar Ramos's avatar

Thanks! I did not I switched to Judgement because I was craving a more modern Japan to bump city pop too. Have u seen the horror movie I listed on here? U might dig!

Expand full comment
Kathy Enriquez-Nguyen's avatar

Haha totally fair!! Ghost is def not modern haha. Unless yo uwere hitting up Kyoto then it’ll make sense.

Yes!! I enjoyed that one so much! Went in completely blind too. For a one-person who doesn’t talk movie, it was brilliantly done.

Expand full comment
Lamar Ramos's avatar

Same! It actually brought out the acting and the tensity without any cheesy lines dropping. In a way made it scarier

Expand full comment
Kathy Enriquez-Nguyen's avatar

Yes!! They have to do more without relying on speech. Totally underrated movie

Expand full comment
Dylan Cornelius's avatar

Judgment looks pretty rad. How's the story so far?

Expand full comment
Lamar Ramos's avatar

The story might be the best aspect, as long as u dont mind lengthy cinematic cutscenes that break the gameplay occasionally. But great cop drama.

Expand full comment
Dylan Cornelius's avatar

That’s what I like to hear, thanks!

Expand full comment
Lamar Ramos's avatar

Np happy to recommend! Apparently its also a great start for someone new to the yakuza series as it doesnt tie in w the rest

Expand full comment
Jared Smith's avatar

Posts like this are extremely my shit.

Expand full comment
Lamar Ramos's avatar

YAAS hope you enjoy and get inspired by anything listed!

Expand full comment
User's avatar
Comment deleted
Nov 1
Comment deleted
Expand full comment
Lamar Ramos's avatar

Me too, I was engaged the entire time. Also, I did play Like a Dragon and wrote about it too on a later "Mood Bored" post of mine! As a fan of Dragon Quest and JRPG Ichiban and his friends are such an entertaining crew of mid 40's misfits and I love em for that!

Like you said it's a long series though but I hope to also play both sequels. Which yakuza game did you like so far?

Expand full comment
User's avatar
Comment deleted
Nov 1
Comment deleted
Expand full comment
Lamar Ramos's avatar

They are def overwhelming with the amount of sides and arcade + dating sims. I like the detective/courtroom drama of judgement so Ill def play 2. Do u like it as much as the first?

Expand full comment